


All Happy Families

by BeatriceandBenedict



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Babyfic, Brotp, Bucky Barnes Returns, Captain America: The Winter Soldier Compliant, Dad!Steve, Domestic Fluff, F/M, Fluff, How Do I Tag, I'm Bad At Tagging, M/M, Mild Language, Protective Bucky Barnes, Protective Steve Rogers, Steve Rogers & Thor Friendship, Steve and Bucky's baby, dad!bucky, hopefully no angst, no promises
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-09
Updated: 2016-05-19
Packaged: 2018-06-01 03:20:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 11,648
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6498793
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BeatriceandBenedict/pseuds/BeatriceandBenedict
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There was a baby in Steve’s living room. </p>
<p>There definitely wasn’t a baby in his living room last night, he was sure of it. Sure, he hadn’t been in his apartment for a few weeks, busy with his fruitless search for Bucky, but he checked the place three times last night for any breaches. He would’ve noticed a baby. And nothing had woken him up, and he hadn’t been a heavy sleeper since the war. The baby—judging by the pink onesie and haphazard pigtails, he was assuming it was a she—stared at him, silently chewing on a slobbery fist.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> The title is from the opening line of Anna Karenina, "All happy families are alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way."
> 
> I also got the name Kitty from Anna Karenina, which has no significance beyond she was my favorite character :)
> 
> Anyways, this is my first fic and I have no idea what I'm doing.

There was a baby in Steve’s living room. 

There definitely wasn’t a baby in his living room last night, he was sure of it. Sure, he hadn’t been in his apartment for a few weeks, busy with his fruitless search for Bucky, but he checked the place three times last night for any breaches. He would’ve noticed a baby. And nothing had woken him up, and he hadn’t been a heavy sleeper since the war. The baby—judging by the pink onesie and haphazard pigtails, he was assuming it was a she—stared at him, silently chewing on a slobbery fist. 

“Hey, princess,” Steve said softly, kneeling down to the pile of blankets surrounding her. “How’d you get in here?”

She shrieked in response, beaming around her hand which she seemed reluctant to remove from her mouth. He laughed softly, before shaking his head. A baby in his apartment wasn’t a good thing, considering he had no idea where she came from. 

Examining the little nest she was sitting in, he noticed a corner of a folder peeking out from under a blanket. He pulled it out, and felt his stomach flip when he recognized the familiar handwriting on the post-it note under whatever was written in Russian on the front of the folder. 

_“She’s ours”_

Something in his chest broke at the sight of Bucky’s handwriting, before he took in the meaning of the words. She’s ours? That wasn’t possible, for dozens of reasons, the main one being he and Bucky both had dicks. Looking at the baby, though, he could see it. Her hair was a honey color, slightly lighter than his, and her eyes were big and grey, like the ones that had been haunting his dreams even before Bucky fell from that damn train. 

He pulled the baby into his lap out of pure instinct, and she seemed happy enough to comply. Flipping open the file, he groaned when faced with paragraphs of Russian. He was going to have to call Natasha, and was not looking forward to that conversation. Steve was about to grab his cell phone when another handwritten note caught his eye. 

_“I’ve been calling her Kitty, like from Anna Karenina”_

“Kitty,” Steve tried, smiling when the baby squealed and twisted to look up at him. “Hi, Kitty.”

She babbled something back, chattering contentedly. Steve grinned before turning back to the folder. Maybe there were more notes. It wasn’t hard to find them, but they didn’t really make sense out of context.

_“I don’t understand the science here but it looks smart”_

_“She doesn’t like bananas”_

_“Don’t read this”_

_“I found her here”_

_“Don’t worry I already killed him”_

The last comment kind of worried him, but he decided not to freak out about it until he figured out who Bucky killed and why. 

“Okay, how bout we call Natasha,” Steve suggested to Kitty. The baby ignored him in favor of sucking on her hand again. 

Steve picked her up, settling her on his hip. Kitty grabbed his shirt, with her spitty hand naturally. He rolled his eyes, making a mental note to change his shirt before Natasha came over. 

“Sunshine and Roses Retirement House,” she answered cheerfully after the first ring. “Here to help your final dreams come true. How can I help you?”

“There’s a baby in my apartment,” Steve said, ignoring Natasha’s horrible sense of humor. 

“Listen Steve, just because you’re Captain America doesn’t mean you can just steal babies,” she hummed, and Steve wondered what her life must be like if that didn’t even phase her. 

“I didn’t steal her, Bucky did.”

That caught her attention. 

“You found him?” She asked, dropping the joking tone. “With a baby?”

“No, he found me.” Steve shifted Kitty to his other hip. “I didn’t even see him, there was just a baby in my apartment when I woke up.”

“I’m coming over.” The call disconnected before he could add anything else. 

“Natasha’s kind of rude sometimes, but she’s a good friend,” Steve told the baby. “I have no idea how she feels about children, though.”

Kitty stared at him, eyes wide. He sighed, pressing a kiss to her forehead. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Natasha breezed into his apartment, despite the locked door. 

“Hey,” Steve greeted her from the couch, where he was playing with the baby. “This is Kitty.”

“Kitty?” she asked faintly, eyebrows raised. 

“That’s what Bucky calls her, apparently.” Steve shrugged, bouncing her on his knee. “There’s a file on the coffee table, mostly in Russian. Bucky wrote some notes, that’s all I could understand.”

Nodding, Natasha picked up the file and flipped through it. Steve watched as her face contorted with surprise. “блин.”

“That bad, huh?” Steve tried to sound indifferent, but he still sounded worried, even to himself. 

“Human trials,” she frowned, glancing at Kitty, who blinked at her. The baby looked like she wasn’t quite sure what to think of the redhead. “They somehow managed to impregnate a woman with a combination of your and Bucky’s semen. I’m not sure where they got the semen or how the actual science works, you’d have to ask Bruce, probably.”

“Well that explains the ‘she’s ours’ comment,” Steve mumbled, pulling Kitty to his chest. “Anything else of interest?” 

“Just details of the experiments.” Natasha made a face. “I think she’s about 6 months old. Kitty was the only survivor, it looks like.”

“Oh sweetheart,” Steve whispered, brushing a golden curl out of her face. She made an effort to grab his finger, and he tapped her nose, making her giggle. He tapped her nose again, giggling with her this time. 

“It looks like Bucky took care of the scientist in charge of the experiments,” Natasha added, still scanning the file. 

“Is that who he was talking about then?” Steve asked, looking up from the baby. “I saw that note.”

“Yeah, don’t worry about it though,” she said. “This guy was fucked up, he had it coming.”

Steve glared, covering Kitty’s ears with his hands. “Language!”

Natasha shot him an exasperated look. “Steve, you cuss more than anybody except maybe Darcy.” 

“Not in front of babies!”

Kitty interrupted them with a whimper, and Steve looked down, panicked, at the tear-filled grey eyes. Barely two seconds later, cries started to fill the room.

“Oh shit, she’s crying,” Steve said dumbly, looking like he was going to start crying himself. 

“Language,” Natasha smirked, earning a glare from Steve. 

He picked up Kitty, bouncing her slightly. He looked helplessly to Natasha, who shrugged and started tapping out something on her phone. The baby screamed louder, until Steve managed to work out a half-bouncing half-rocking rhythm that quieted her to discontent grumbling.

“Has she eaten?” Natasha asked, looking up from her phone. Steve shook his head. 

“What do 6 month olds even eat?” he muttered, heading to the kitchen. Kitty squirmed in his arms, voicing her unhappiness. “I know, sweetheart, we’ll find you something to eat.”

“According to WebMD, she should be starting to eat solids,” Natasha added helpfully. “Got any strained fruits or veggies?”

“No,” Steve frowned. He didn’t think he had any food worth eating in his apartment at all, to be honest. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d been grocery shopping, it was almost definitely before finding out Bucky was alive. “One of Bucky’s notes said she didn’t like bananas.”

“No bananas then,” she mused, opening the fridge and making a face at the state of it. “Ugh, Steve, how old is this Chinese take out?”

“Shut up,” he protested. “I literally got here last night, I didn’t exactly plan the last couple months.”

Natasha mumbled something under her breath that Steve was pretty sure consisted of curses in Russian, but didn’t feel like pressing it. Kitty was becoming more and more fussy in his arms, and he desperately scoured the kitchen looking for something to feed her. 

“Oh thank goodness,” he breathed, finally spotting the baby food jar sitting on the counter. “Sweet potatoes. Thanks, Buck.”

_“Don’t forget to feed her”_ the note sticking to the jar said. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“I heard there was a baby,” Clint said as he barged into Steve’s apartment. 

“In the kitchen,” Natasha said helpfully from where she’d planted herself on the couch. 

“Why do I even bother locking the door,” Steve rolled his eyes, setting down the washcloth he was attempting to wash Kitty’s face with. She seemed to be more interested in grabbing whatever was in reach and throwing it on the floor than wiping the sweet potato off her face, and if she wasn’t so adorable Steve might’ve been frustrated. 

“Aw, she’s so cute,” Clint cooed, practically shoving Steve out of the way. “Hi baby!”

Kitty babbled something back, handing Clint the salt shaker, which he accepted graciously. Steve let Clint distract her while he got the rest of the sweet potatoes off of her face, picking her up when he was done. 

“Okay, I’ve got to ask,” Clint started as soon as they were back in the living room, Kitty curled up happily on Steve’s chest, chewing on his shirt. “Why did Barnes give you a baby?”

“Hydra managed to combine Steve and Bucky’s DNA or something along those lines,” Natasha said. “Bucky must’ve found her and decided she’d be better off with Steve.”

“Why wouldn’t he stay?” Steve mumbled, more to himself than Clint or Natasha. He ran a couple fingers through the soft hair on Kitty’s head. “He knows I want him to stay, right?”

“Probably, with the intensity you’ve been searching for,” Clint answered reassuringly. “Listen, he just broke through some pretty heavy brainwashing, it’s a lot to take in. He needs time and space, trust me.”

Steve sighed. He knew Clint was most likely right, and he remembered how Clint had retreated for weeks to his farmhouse after Loki. But the desire to have Bucky back by his side was hard to squash. Knowing he was out there, and purposefully avoiding him, was killing him. 

“Let’s focus on one thing at a time, okay?” Natasha suggested, derailing Steve’s train of thought. “You have literally nothing suitable for a baby. Shopping first, pining later.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Steve stared at the sheer amount of stuff in the store. Natasha and Clint were having a field day, throwing who knows what into his cart. 

“See anything you like?” he asked Kitty, who seemed as overwhelmed as he did. “Didn’t think so.”

He wandered over to where the pacifiers were displayed. Goodness, why on earth did they need 300 different versions of the same thing?

Kitty reached out, grabbing a sparkly blue one.

“You like that one?”

She threw it on the ground.

“Okay, I guess not,” Steve chuckled, picking up the pacifier. “What about that one?”

They continued playing the game, Steve pointing at pacifiers and Kitty babbling her opinion. He decided to get a light purple one that she had tried to put in her mouth, figuring she liked it. 

“You might want to grab two or three,” Natasha appeared from nowhere, tossing something pink and frilly in his cart. “I hear people lose them a lot.”

Steve shrugged, grabbing a couple more of the same kind. Clint ran by with an armful of baby food, dumping it in the cart before disappearing again. Steve rolled his eyes, grabbing a couple bibs and a cute stuffed elephant. 

“Steve, over here!” Natasha called from across the room. “Which crib do you want?”

They managed to narrow it down to a couple different options, before Steve got stuck between the wooden one and the collapsable one. 

“Why don’t you just get both?” Clint asked finally, apparently done raiding the store. “That solves your problem.”

“I don’t need two cribs,” Steve sighed. “That’s just excessive.”

“Get the portable one,” Natasha suggested. “That way you can bring it over to the Tower if you need to.” 

“Yeah, cuz Tony loves babies,” Steve laughed. “I can’t wait to see his face.”

“I already texted Pepper, she’s totally going to pull the ‘we should have a baby too’ card.” Natasha winked. “JARVIS promised to record his reaction.”

“You and Pepper are terrifying.”

Natasha smiled proudly, adding another package of diapers to the growing pile.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

His apartment was officially baby-proofed. No weapons were within easy grabbing distance, which made Natasha grumpy, but he was not having Kitty accidentally blow her face off. 

The room he usually kept his paints in now held a pretty pink and white crib with a mountain of blankets and stuffed animals. A changing table that he didn’t remember buying had appeared next to the closet. Various outfits sat in shopping bags next to the dresser, waiting to be unpacked and put away. 

Kitty had fallen asleep happily in her new crib, clutching a blanket in her chubby little fists. Steve found himself staring at her, running a finger over her perfect cheek. The more he looked at her, the more he could see of himself and Bucky in her. She had his nose and Bucky’s lips, he thought. Her eyes though, they were definitely Bucky’s, and Steve was glad they were closed or he might actually start crying. 

He returned to the kitchen, glad Natasha and Clint had left after extracting promises to bring Kitty to the Tower in a couple days. A little peace and quiet was nice after a long day of a noisy baby and a couple loud friends. He cleaned out his fridge, making a note to go grocery shopping the next day for actual adult food. The Chinese food was too rancid to salvage, even for his super soldier serum enhanced stomach. He ended up eating a bag of slightly stale Cheetos. 

After making a grocery list, he spent a full two hours researching babies on the internet. Probably not the best idea, as he was now more stressed than he was before. How normal people did this, he had no idea. Maybe the 9 months of preparation helped, and Steve couldn’t help but wish that Bucky had given him a bit of warning. Or that Bucky hadn’t just left her here, that he had stayed with them. Luckily, Kitty woke up from her nap before he lost himself to that downward spiral. 

“Hey princess,” he cooed, beaming at the sleepy baby. “How’d you sleep?”

Kitty answered incoherently, partially because she couldn’t talk, partially because she had the corner of a blanket in her mouth. She lifted her hands, wanting out, and Steve was happy to pull her into her arms.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Steve was kind of surprised that Kitty slept through the night. From his research he knew that at around this age was when they started to, but he had figured being in a new place would unsettle her. But the baby monitor hadn’t made a peep all night, and when Steve poked his head the new nursery, she was still asleep. 

He padded to her crib, making sure to keep his footsteps silent. She looked peaceful, and Steve couldn’t help smiling, until he saw what she was cuddling to. 

A Bucky Bear. Where did she get a Bucky Bear?

His gut twisted in horror, realizing that someone had been in his little girl’s room while she was sleeping, and…had left her a toy?

He quickly scanned the rest of the room, looking for anything else out of place. The clothes were still in piles by the dresser, and the mountain of toys didn’t look like it had been touched. He checked the changing station, and his heart stopped when he saw the note written in familiar script. 

Steve grabbed the letter, shaking with some emotion he couldn't identify. 

_Hey Stevie,_

_Glad you’re taking care of Kitty. She’s a cute kid, ain’t she? I remember you saying you wanted kids, glad at least that could come true._

_Speaking of remembering, I think I remember most everything now. It came back slowly, in flashes, kind of confusing. I went and visited your exhibit at the Smithsonian. Not sure why anyone would want a whole exhibit about your sorry ass, but the future is a weird place. You sure were cute when you were little._

_About Kitty, I found her in a Hydra facility about a month ago, a couple weeks after what happened in DC. Sorry about shooting you. She was crying real hard, and this scientist was ignoring her, taking some tests or something. I know I shouldn’t have, I was a lot less stable then, but I kind of snapped and killed the guy. Sorry? But then I read the file and realized who she was and what he did to her and I honestly don’t feel bad about it anymore._

_Anyways, I tried to take care of her myself, but Hydra kept trying to catch up with me and I couldn’t keep her safe like I wanted to. And I realized you’re the only other person I would trust to take care of her, only one I want to take care of her. Please keep her safe._

_I can’t come back yet, I’m sorry. That’s what this letter’s for, I got kind of side tracked. Sorry. But I need to know that you and Kitty are safe before I can come back home, you gotta understand that, okay? I have to know that nobody’s coming after you two ‘cause of me. I might be able to live with a lot of the things I’ve done, but I don’t think I could live if either of you died because of me._

_I miss you,  
_Bucky__

_PS: I’m going to kill you for crashing that plane you self-righteous bastard._


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ta-da! I added another chapter. I think the whole thing will turn out to be 4 or 5 chapters? I wasn't planning on adding anymore, but once I started I kept thinking of more and more things, and you know how it goes. 
> 
> Also it kind of got angsty? I'm not sure where that came from, I was not planning that. Oops. Sorry.

“So, how are you doing?” Natasha prodded, after dragging Steve into the kitchen. He was reluctant to leave Kitty, even if she was with his most trusted friends and Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, but Natasha had somehow convinced him he needed a drink from the kitchen. He suspected Clint was in on it too, whisking Kitty away with an enthralling game of peek-a-boo. 

“I’m good,” Steve replied with a hopefully-not-too-fake smile, filling his cup with orange juice and turning to head back to the living room. 

“Steve,” she sighed. “Come on, give me more than that.” She glared at him threateningly, as if daring him to try and walk away again.

“It’s only been a few days,” he shrugged helplessly. “She’s eating well, and takes naps. Oh, and she sat up by herself yesterday, and she babbles constantly. It’s really cute, I think I have about 3 hours of video on my phone now, though. Tony said he’d add more memory but I’m not sure I really want him near my phone. Bruce came over and did a check up for her the other day and said she’s all healthy, and he’s taking a look at the file to see if he can figure out what they were doing to her, exactly.”

“That’s great, Steve, but how are you doing?”

“Oh,” he hesitated, and Natasha raised an eyebrow. “I’m good, really.”

“Have you heard anymore from Barnes?” she asked, and Steve bit his lip. He hadn’t told anyone about the letter he found that first morning. It felt private, something that was decidedly his and Bucky’s, and he wasn’t willing to share it with anyone yet, although Natasha was definitely going to kick his ass once she found out. 

“Nope,” he answered, hoping she would drop it. His hopes weren’t too high though. “Kitty does have a Bucky Bear though, she loves it.” Steve conveniently left out where she got it from.

A piercing shriek interrupted them, effectively cutting off whatever Natasha was going to say next, followed closely by Kitty’s shrill cries. Steve’s cup clattered to the ground and he abandoned Natasha, practically sprinting back into the living room. Two minutes, he left them alone with his baby for barely two minutes. He was never letting his friends in his apartment ever again.

“Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh,” Tony was hyperventilating, holding Kitty at arms length even though she was squirming frantically. Thousands of images of her falling filled Steve’s head, nearly giving him a heart attack. Thor, thankfully, was wise enough and close enough to take the screaming baby and rock her gently. 

“What happened?” Steve demanded, trying to take in the scene. There wasn’t any blood that he could see, and the fact that Clint was giggling hysterically on the couch probably meant nothing serious had happened, but the sheer panic hadn’t left his system yet. “Tony?!”

“She spit up on me,” Tony screeched, voice hilariously high, and when Steve looked closer he noticed a stain on the corner of his Black Sabbath shirt. “Steve, your child spit up on me!”

“Yeah Tony, babies do that,” Natasha remarked from behind Steve, an amused smirk on her face. 

Steve took Kitty from Thor, glad that she had calmed down to quiet sniffles. Tony had probably just scared her, and he let out a relieved laugh as he rooted through the diaper bag in search of her pacifier. 

“Wow Stark, I didn’t know you could hit a note that high,” Clint gasped, wiping away a tear. “That made my day, thanks man.”

“Can it, bird brain,” Tony snapped, apparently regaining his breath. “I don’t do babies. Where are your matches, I need to burn this shirt.”

“No fires around the baby,” Natasha said, shooting a smug look at Steve. She was probably going to make fun of him for freaking out later. 

“Huh, I didn’t know you still had the ability to blush,” Steve couldn’t help teasing now that Kitty was quietly sucking on her pacifier, and Tony’s face was reddish, although that could’ve easily been from the screaming. “Who knew, all it took was a little girl.”

Tony sputtered indignantly, and even Natasha was laughing now. 

“Whatever, you can count me out for babysitting duty,” he grumbled, flopping on the couch and pulling out a StarkPad, grumpily distracting himself with what looked like schematics for a quinjet and decidedly ignoring Clint’s absurd laughter.

“I would be more than happy to babysit, if need” Thor boomed, leaning over to tickle Kitty’s stomach. She giggled and patted his face clumsily. “However, I’m afraid I do not have much experience with children.”

“It’s fine, really,” Steve said. “I don’t exactly have a busy schedule, taking care of her isn’t a problem.”

Actually, the four of them dropping by his apartment unannounced was probably the most exciting his social life had been since he introduced himself to Sam, but he wasn’t about to tell them that. 

“You’ve stopped looking for Barnes?” Natasha asked, looking at him carefully. Steve really didn’t like it when she did that. It made him feel like he was in the confessionals, back when his Ma made him go to Mass every Sunday. 

“Well, he obviously doesn’t want to be with me at the moment,” he mumbled, trying to keep the dejected tone out of his voice. “And he’s not dead or hurt, I don’t think. Besides, Sam was telling me I needed a break.”

Sam had actually threatened to spray paint his shield neon orange if Steve didn’t let them both have a week off from their search, and Steve really didn’t want to tell them that either. If anything, it would give his friends ideas about messing with his shield. 

“Good, listen to Sam, I like Sam,” Clint said. 

“You haven’t even met Sam,” Natasha pointed out.

“Yes, but his codename is also bird-related, we have a connection.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Steve managed to kick everyone out when Kitty got fussy, recognizing the impending need for a nap and threatening anyone who woke her up with extra paperwork. Tony was out of there like a bullet, apparently allergic to both babies and paperwork, and Natasha and Clint followed him quickly. Thor, oddly enough, was the one who loitered the longest. 

“It is okay to ask for help, Captain,” he reminded him as Steve put Kitty in her crib. “It will not be easy, and you have many friends who are willing to help.”

“Thanks, Thor,” Steve murmured, grabbing the Bucky Bear from the shelf to give to Kitty. She grabbed it immediately, gripping it tightly. He vaguely wondered where Bucky found it. They were rare, Bucky Bears, as they had stopped making them sometime in the 50s. Wherever Bucky got it, Kitty loved it and Steve learned quickly that she’d throw a fit if he tried to get her to sleep without it. 

“You truly love Barnes,” Thor observed more than asked when they finally tore themselves from the baby and returned to the kitchen. Steve sighed, handing him a beer and cracking one open for himself. Even though they couldn’t get drunk or even buzzed, Steve and Thor agreed they liked the taste enough to drink it.

“I can’t remember a time when I didn’t,” he answered honestly. His earliest memories were filled with awe and love for his best friend, even before he realized what the feelings meant. 

“And you already love the little one.”

“She grows on you,” he grinned, taking a sip of his beer. 

“You’re doing a good job,” Thor declared, clapping a hand on his shoulder. Steve smiled gratefully. 

Thor left shortly after, offering again to babysit if needed. Steve got the feeling he had a soft spot for babies, and made a mental note to invite him over more often. 

Stomach rumbling, he frowned at his empty fridge. With the craziness of the last few days he hadn’t had a chance to go grocery shopping beyond baby food for Kitty. Most of his meals had been take out, and his lovely friends had so kindly eaten all of his left-overs. Well, he supposed it was time to figure out how to go shopping with a six-month old. 

He realized belatedly that he could’ve asked Thor or even Natasha or Clint to watch Kitty while he went. Hell, Tony would’ve had groceries delivered if he had even hinted at not wanting to go shopping (which had happened several times until Steve patiently explained that he really didn’t mind doing it himself). But he wasn’t sure he was quite ready to be more than a couple rooms away from her. That was totally normal though, he told himself. All new parents probably had separation issues, right? Not to mention his were completely justified, with Hydra and whoever Bucky was dealing with. 

By the time Kitty woke up from her nap, Steve had a list written out and her diaper bag packed and ready to go. Luckily for him, she was happy enough from her nap to go without a fuss and the trip was surprisingly easy until another cart rammed into his in the cereal aisle. 

“Oh my goodness, I’m so sorry!” the woman, a short, frazzled blonde in a rumpled track suit, exclaimed over Kitty’s wails. “I didn’t see you, oh poor baby!”

“It’s fine,” Steve grimaced, pulling Kitty out of the cart. “She doesn’t do well with loud noises,” he added, remembering how she reacted to Tony’s screams earlier. Bruce had theorized after looking over her file that her hearing and other senses were probably enhanced by whatever serum she’d inherited from Steve and Bucky, and Steve remembered clearly how frighteningly loud everything had been after he got the serum. He couldn’t imagine a baby going through that, and he hoped Kitty’s experience was better than his. 

“She’s a real cutie,” the woman cooed. She tugged on Kitty’s hand, which only made the baby cry harder. Steve frowned, digging the pacifier out of the diaper bag. “How old is she?”

“Six months,” he said shortly, slightly uncomfortable with how forward the woman was being. Was this how normal people in grocery stores acted, or was he just being paranoid? 

"Oh, how precious,” she gushed, adding something about a niece the same age. Steve wasn’t really paying attention, instead surveying the rest of the grocery store for any threats. Nothing else seemed out of place or suspicious; maybe he was just unnecessarily apprehensive. 

“Thank you,” Steve replied in his Captain America voice that oozed disinterested politeness. It usually helped him get out of uncomfortable situations, but this woman was relentless. 

“Giving her mom a day off?” she asked, apparently trying to hold a full conversation despite Steve’s hopefully obvious lack of enthusiasm. 

“She has two dads.” He hoped that would be enough to fend off the woman, especially if she was flirting (he had always had a difficult time figuring out when women were flirting with him, which Bucky found hilarious). “Have a nice day, ma’am.”

With that he decidedly pushed his cart past her, grip on Kitty still protectively tight. She was somewhat calmer now, sucking on her pacifier with big, tear-filled grey eyes that looked heartbreakingly frightened. Steve decided quickly to forego the rest of the shopping trip and get home as soon as possible. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A few nights later, a small noise woke Steve from his light sleep, and he froze, listening closely for whatever woke him. The room was silent for several minutes, long enough for Steve to convince himself he was imagining things.

By then, he was already awake and definitely not going back to sleep. He groaned sleepily, grabbing his phone to check the time. 

3:37

Ugh, way too early. He padded into the hallway, intending to grab a glass of water or maybe a piece of the pizza Clint had brought over earlier, when a glint of light caught his eye. 

The glimmer of light was coming from the Kitty’s room, and it flickered and disappeared before he could figure out what it was. Steve thanked every deity he could think of that he had left the door open a few inches. Fingers itching to grab his shield which was unfortunately back in his room, he slowly pushed the door open. 

“Bucky?”

The figure turned his head slightly, the only indication that he had heard Steve. The metal arm was reflecting the moonlight, explaining the flashes of light but not why Bucky was here, in Kitty’s room. Then again, maybe Steve didn’t care why. 

“Bucky,” he mumbled again, statement no longer questioning but filled with awe. He rubbed his eyes, half-terrified he was still asleep in his bed and this was a dream. “Bucky.”

“Sh, you’ll wake the baby,” Bucky spoke, finally, and Steve felt a pang in his heart at the vacancy in his voice. He finally turned away from the crib, but his eyes stayed directed down, refusing to look at him. 

“Bucky,” Steve repeated stupidly, shock clouding his thoughts, which at this point were just _Bucky Bucky Bucky Bucky Bucky_.

“I can’t stay,” Bucky snapped harshly, before Steve could get another word out. His metal fist clenched with a metallic click and he turned back to Kitty. The baby was still sleeping, blissfully unaware. “I just wanted to say hi.”

“Please?” Steve felt smaller than he had in years. “Please stay?”

“There’s still people trying to take her back,” Bucky frowned. Steve couldn’t help noticing that he hadn’t smiled once during the exchange and that realization made him take a closer look at him. He looked a little worse for wear, but not as bad as after the fight in the helicarrier. He was wearing civilian clothes, Steve was glad to see. He wasn’t sure he could handle the combat gear right now. “I need to take care of it.”

“I can help,” Steve offered. 

“No,” he shook his head, still looking at the baby. “You need to take care of her.”

Steve couldn’t argue, knowing Kitty was basically helpless and he didn’t want anyone other than him looking after her, even though he was sure it was going to kill him to see Bucky leave him again. “How long will it take?”

Bucky was silent for a long, long time, and Steve was beginning to wonder if he had even heard his question. Or maybe the whole conversation was a dream and his subconscious was trying to figure out what to do next. 

Movement jolted him from his thoughts, and Steve stared at the smart phone Bucky pulled out of his pocket. He didn’t recognize the brand, but Tony hadn’t let him touch anything besides a StarkPhone since he got out of the ice so he wasn’t exactly an expert. 

“Yours,” Bucky demanded, hand outstretched and voice flat. Steve blinked in surprised, not expecting to be addressed again. He fumbled around in the pockets of his pajama pants for his phone, glad he had grabbed it before getting out of bed. 

Bucky took it from him without another word, and started tapping away at it, doing who-knew-what. Steve, for his part, got so lost in the familiar lines of his friend’s face, trying to memorize everything before Bucky inevitably left again, that he almost didn’t notice when his phone was thrust back into his hands. 

“If you need me,” Bucky said in a much softer voice than he’d been using earlier. Steve gaped at the phone, where sure enough there was a new contact with an unfamiliar number programmed in. He looked back at Bucky, face contorted with disbelief. Did this mean—what did this mean?

The brunet’s lips twisted, as if he was going to smile but thought better of it. Steve wished he hadn’t thought better of it. Instead, Bucky leaned over the bars of the crib to press a kiss to Kitty’s forehead, careful not to wake her. 

“Stay safe,” he muttered gruffly as he breezed past a still-shocked Steve and out the door. 

When Steve managed to move again, a couple seconds later, he found the apartment empty.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thor and Steve are my brotp. Also I have a headcanon that Thor loves babies but is usually too busy with Asgardian prince/warrior duties to play with them.


	3. Chapter 3

It’d been two days since Bucky put the number in his phone (well, actually it had only been 42 hours but Steve definitely wasn’t counting or anything) and he still had no idea what to send him. 

“Hi” wasn’t enough, didn’t capture the hurricane of feelings swirling through Steve at the moment, and if he tried to put those feelings into words it was going to turn into a five page essay before he got halfway through. “Sorry” didn’t cut it either; when he apologized to Bucky for letting him fall, he was going to do it properly, face to face, and there wasn’t going to be a doubt in Bucky’s mind that Steve didn’t mean it. 

His thoughts were interrupted when Kitty threw a stuffed elephant at him, clearly fed up with how he was paying more attention the the blank text message in his phone than her. 

“I’m sorry, princess,” he gasped dramatically. She clapped her hands excitedly when she saw he was finally responding to her struggles for attention. “Was I not showering you with enough affection?”

Kitty shrieked happily in response and made grabby hands for her elephant. 

“Oh, I see who your favorite is,” Steve rolled his eyes, handing her the elephant and smiling when she immediately put the foot in her mouth. 

She was really adorable, Steve thought with a frankly absurd amount of pride. He grabbed his phone, intending to take his two thousandth picture of her (his background changed almost daily with every new, cute thing Kitty did) when a thought struck him. 

“Smile for daddy,” he murmured before snapping the picture.

It turned out, he was glad to see, really well. 

Kitty had removed the foot of the elephant from her mouth to beam up at the camera from her spot on the living room carpet, chubby fist still gripping her stuffed animal tightly. The late afternoon sunlight from the window and the red tutu Steve was pretty sure Natasha bought gave her a rosy glow, and her grey eyes were full of laughter. 

He smiled at the picture, attaching it to a text message. A moment of doubt flickered through him, making him pause, when he realized he still had nothing to say that even came close to describing his feelings. 

“It’s not weird to send just a picture, right?” he asked Kitty, sighing when she just giggled. “Yeah, yeah, your dad’s pathetic. Laugh it up while you can.”

That just made Kitty laugh even more, and Steve couldn’t help but join. It was pretty funny, he had to admit, asking his six month old for dating advice. 

“I’m going to send it, okay?” Steve pretended like Kitty was still listening to him instead of giving her attention back to her elephant. “If he doesn’t like it, I’m blaming you.”

He hit the send button quickly, before he could change his mind. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Not looking at his phone was difficult. He refused to be any more pitiful than he already was, and that meant not checking his phone every minute even though he really, really wanted to. The volume was turned way up, because Steve was responsible and if one of his team mates needed him he wasn’t going to not respond because he was too busy trying not to pine. And if the text turned out to be from Bucky and not an Avenger, then so be it. 

It had been two hours and seventeen minutes (again, not that he was counting) since he sent the text when a familiar noise interrupted his attempt to feed Kitty yogurt, which he was beginning to think should go on the ‘does not like’ list along with bananas and carrots. 

Unfortunately, it wasn’t his phone dinging and if that was another one of his team mates knocking on the door in an attempt to see if he was mentally stable under the flimsy pretense of playing with his baby he might actually follow through with threat to move without leaving a forwarding address. 

Instead of Clint and his dog, however, it was Sam Wilson standing behind his door and Steve’s eyes widened when he realized he totally forgot to tell Sam about the baby. 

It wasn’t his fault, he told himself, ignoring the good old Catholic guilt as he opened the door. Sam had told him explicitly when they split up that they needed to spend at least a week out of each other’s pockets, which meant no communication unless it was an emergency. Steve kind of thought the conversation sounded like a weird break up, but Sam had looked utterly exhausted and a bit insecure that he needed to take a break when Steve still had plenty of nervous energy to spare and he decided not to mention it. Also, they were becoming a bit codependent, which probably wasn’t healthy.

“Hey,” Steve greeted, praying that Kitty wouldn’t make a fuss until he was able to explain the situation. She was probably going to make a mess out of the yogurt he left on her high chair, but that was better than trying to have a meaningful conversation over a crying baby. 

“Hey man,” Sam said, clapping him on the back as he entered the apartment. “How’ve you been?”

“Pretty good,” he replied. How on earth did were you supposed to start this conversation? “You look better.”

“Yeah, a couple weeks of sleeping in will do that for you,” Sam replied easily, eyes narrowing as he studied the blond. Steve shifted nervously, trying to decide how to bring it up. “You know, I was half expecting you to turn up on my door step packed and ready to go the minute the week was up.”

“It’s been a week?” Steve said, amazed. He hadn’t been paying attention to the date at all. 

“It’s been almost two weeks,” Sam said, and now he looked really suspicious. Steve should probably just come out and say it, before Sam somehow figured it out by just looking at him. 

“I’ve been busy—“ he started, but he was cut off by a small crash in the kitchen and Kitty’s frantic babbling.

“What the hell was that?” Sam demanded, following Steve into the kitchen where Kitty was leaning over in her high chair to stare at the spilled yogurt like it was the most interesting thing in the world. “Steve, there’s a baby in your kitchen.”

“Uh, yeah,” he mumbled sheepishly as he pulled her out of her high chair. “This is Kitty, can you say hi?”

She managed to drag her attention away from the yogurt long enough to say something that might’ve been a hello in baby language. Or maybe she was telling him about the yogurt.

“Hi, Kitty,” Sam said slowly, eyeing Steve carefully. “You babysitting?”

“Um, no,” he stuttered. “She’s mine.”

Sam blinked. “I leave you alone for less than two weeks and you somehow have a baby?”

Steve sighed, and explained the situation as succinctly as he could while he cleaned up the yogurt. He debated whether or not to tell him about seeing Bucky the other night, but eventually decided against it, telling him instead about the letter. Sam was silent throughout the account, but at least he stopped looking at Steve like he was a crazy person who might have stolen a baby. Kitty, for her contribution, wiped yogurt on Steve’s shirt and giggled hysterically. 

“So Barnes is your baby daddy?” Sam asked dryly when he was done. “You realize how messed up this is, right?”

“Trust me, I realized that the first time I tried to change her diaper,” Steve muttered, face turning pinkish at the memory. It had taken almost an hour, lots of tears, no less than three YouTube tutorials, and a small existential crisis. 

“How are you doing?” Sam’s voice was bleeding with obvious concern.

“I’m fine, why does everyone keep asking that?” Steve grumbled, brushing past Sam to head to Kitty’s room. It was past seven, she needed to sleep or else she was going to get cranky too. 

“Because you apparently have a baby now,” Sam rolled his eyes at his stubbornness and followed him. “That’s a lot to adjust too.”

“Not as much as 70 years of history.”

Sam sighed. This was ridiculous. “What about Barnes, you still want to look for him?”

“He wants me to look after Kitty,” Steve replied as he managed to get the squirming baby into her pajamas. She seemed too excited by the new visitor, and Steve was afraid she wasn’t going to go to sleep until he handed her the Bucky Bear, which calmed her down immediately. Bucky was getting a gigantic thank you for giving her that toy, Steve didn’t think he’d survive without it some nights. 

Sam was still giving him weird looks when he finally turned the lights out and headed back to the kitchen to grab some beers. 

“Stop looking at me like that,” Steve whined, tossing the beer at him. If he threw it a bit harder than normal, oh well. “I’m fine, Kitty’s fine, everything’s fine.”

“Never said it wasn’t,” Sam said with a smirk that reminded Steve too much of Natasha. “You’re pretty good at this dad thing.”

Huh. Compliments weren’t exactly what Steve was expecting. Maybe something more along the lines of gentle prodding about his general well-being, maybe another subtle invitation to join a group at the VA, but not a comment on his competence as a father. “Thanks, I guess.”

“No, really,” Sam took a sip of his beer before continuing. “I’ve babysat man, I’ve got two little nieces, and you just got Kitty to bed with basically no fussing it all. My sister has been giving me rants about how difficult bedtime is ever since she had the first one, I know how rough it can be.”

“Kitty’s a good baby,” Steve protested weakly. He wasn’t going to take all the credit when Kitty was rarely difficult to take care of. “The only things that upset her are loud noises and bananas.”

“Or maybe she has a good father,” Sam suggested with a wink. 

“Fathers,” Steve said immediately. “Bucky had her before I did.”

Sam looked at him thoughtfully, but didn’t respond to the comment, instead changing the subject and the two men caught up with each other’s lives. While on their break, Sam had managed to finally get a date with the cute secretary at the VA without Steve’s help. 

“I’ll swing by later, we’ll get out and do something,” he said good-naturedly as he headed out the door. 

“Um,” Steve hesitated, looking back towards Kitty’s bedroom. 

“Come on, man, when’s the last time you’ve been out of this apartment?”

“I went grocery shopping two days ago?”

“Oh my gosh, Steve,” Sam sighed, exasperated. “Tomorrow, 2 o’clock, we’re going to the park, okay? You can bring the baby, it’ll be fun. Fresh air is good for babies and super soldiers.”

He didn’t give Steve a chance to protest before he was out the door with a cheerful goodbye. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Steve wasn’t sure what had possessed his friends to buy Kitty dozens of toys. She was six months old, she didn’t exactly care what she was sticking in her mouth. And now he was finding them everywhere, he’d lost count of how many toys he’d stepped on. At least three were definitely broken. 

He was cleaning up after Sam left, making a mental note to buy a toy chest somewhere, when he happened across his phone and Steve suddenly remembered the text he had sent earlier. 

Trying to combat the nervousness, he opened his phone. Several texts were waiting for him, a couple from Natasha about a new Thai place in town and several from Tony about an insane crib he wanted to make for Kitty which Steve responded to with an immediate no. He left the text from Bucky for last. 

**From: Bucky**  
_Cute_

Steve stared at the single word. Cute. It was true, Kitty was very cute. But what on earth was he supposed to respond with?

Ugh, this must be what a twelve year on with a crush felt like. Actually, this was exactly what a twelve year old with a crush felt like, Steve distinctly remembered being twelve and having a crush on Bucky and dealing with the same hopeless attempts at feelings. Luckily for him, he didn’t have to deal with texting then.

Heaving a sigh, he picked up the toys he’d gathered and snuck into Kitty’s room, careful not to make too much noise as he deposited them in the corner. 

She still looked precious, curled up with her Bucky Bear. He took another picture, glad whatever Tony had been ranting about the camera was good enough to get a decent picture in the soft glow of the night light. He sent it to Bucky, hesitating before adding another text. 

**To: Bucky**  
_She won’t go to sleep without it_

He stared at the phone for a few moments before shaking his head and heading back to his room. Before he could even get his pajama pants on, the phone dinged twice and he fell over in an attempt to grab it. 

**From: Bucky**  
_I kind of stole it from the Smithsonian exhibit_

**From: Bucky**  
_Sorry_

Steve let out a slightly hysterical laugh, vaguely remembering the authentic Bucky Bear in a display case. 

**To: Bucky**  
_Trust me, it’s doing more good here_

**From: Bucky**  
_You’re not mad?_

**To: Bucky**  
_That exhibit is too ridiculous to get mad over_

There was a long pause before the next text came. 

**From: Bucky**  
_Helped me remember some stuff_

Steve knew the letter Bucky left him mentioned something about his memory being jogged by the exhibit, but he hadn’t allowed himself to hope that Bucky had miraculously gotten all him memories back. Now that he was actually communicating with him, Steve let himself wonder what exactly Bucky had been remembering. 

**To: Bucky**  
_Oh yeah? Like what?_

**From: Bucky**  
_Some stuff about the Commandos, how tiny you were_

Before Steve could think of an appropriate response, his phone dinged again.

**From: Bucky**  
_It was confusing at first, remembering you big and little_

**From: Bucky**  
_Did I yell at you for letting the government experiment on you?_

**To: Bucky**  
_Yeah, for weeks_

**From: Bucky**  
_Good that was stupid as fuck_

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Steve yawned, stretching sleepily. He was tired, and felt bad that he couldn’t concentrate on whatever Sam was saying. He was also pretty sure Sam was intentionally telling his most boring stories in an attempt to make him fall asleep. 

“That sounds nice,” he mumbled when he realized Sam had paused. Archeology. They were talking about archeology, he was pretty sure. 

“Really? Nice?” Sam asked, amused. 

“Uh, not nice?” he tried. 

“Steve, man, I was explaining the plot of Raiders of the Lost Ark, which I know you’ve seen because it was the only thing playing in English in that hotel in Romania so don’t use that ‘I’m from the 40s’ excuse.”

Oh.

“Sorry, late night,” Steve winced. He wasn’t lying either, he had been up until after three texting Bucky. Unfortunately, Bucky was apparently good at offering virtually no indication of where he was or what he was doing or even what he was thinking, but Steve was grateful all the same to be actually talking with him. He’d stayed up until four just in case Bucky decided to text him again after he said goodnight, and then he might have read through his texts a few times like a lovesick teenage girl. 

Anyways, he had fallen asleep about hour before Kitty woke up. Long enough to feel like crap for their park trip with Sam.

“Rough,” Sam commented, face softening with understanding. Steve felt kind of guilty, letting him think he was having nightmares.

“I’m fine,” he insisted for what felt like the hundredth time in the past two weeks. “I just didn’t get a lot of slee—no, princess, don’t put that in your mouth!”

The blanket they’d spread out in the park had done nothing to prevent Kitty from stuffing a fist of grass in her mouth. Sam laughed as Steve tried in vain to stop her.

“That’s one was to get fiber,” he joked, earning a fake glare. 

“C’mon, Kitty,” Steve mumbled, pulling her out of the grass and into his lap. “Better things to do than eat grass.”

“Just wait till she’s crawling.”

Steve groaned dramatically, flopping backwards on the blanket. Kitty cooed sympathetically on his chest, happily ignorant of the fact she was the one causing stress. 

“Come on, get up you drama queen,” Sam rolled his eyes, kicking Steve playfully. 

He sat up, careful to keep Kitty in his lap, and scanned the area. His time with SHIELD had only strengthened that paranoia he’d developed during the war. Like the last dozen times he’d checked, nothing was suspicious except a guy on the corner he was pretty sure was selling drugs. 

A lady talking on a cell phone by the fountain caught his attention. He struggled to place her, distracted by Kitty’s babbling and asking Sam about the date he had later that night. 

It wasn’t until Kitty was secured in her stroller and he had said goodbye to Sam that it finally clicked that she was the same woman he’d run into at the store a few days earlier, and he suddenly became acutely aware that she hadn’t left the area yet.

Shit. That was definitely suspicious, he was sure. Steve bit his lip, running through his options. Unfortunately for him, Sam had already left and it would look weird if he called him back. Pulling out his phone, he texted Bucky instead.

**To: Bucky**  
_Is it weird to see the same woman twice in a few days?_

The reply came instantly and did nothing to calm Steve’s nerves. 

**From: Bucky**  
_Mid 30s, 5’4, 130 lbs, blonde, brown eyes?_

**To: Bucky**  
_Yes, should I panic?_

Instead of another ding, his phone started ringing and he answered immediately. 

“Are you still at the park? Where’s Kitty? Are you alone?” Bucky demanded before Steve could get out a hello. 

“Yeah, Sam just left. Kitty’s in her stroller. Who is she?”

“Hired muscle. I took out the people that hired her, but she’s probably figured out there’d be other interested parties.”

“Shit.”

“Exactly. Make your way home like normal, I’ll meet you there.”

The call ended with an abrupt click, and Steve hurried home, trying not to look like he was hurrying. He lost track of the woman once he left the park, but now he could feel eyes on the back of his neck. He hoped it was all in his head. 

Thankfully, Kitty was blissfully unaware and content in her stroller, only getting excited when she saw Bucky in the foyer of Steve’s apartment. 

“Hey sweetie,” Bucky murmured, kissing her forehead while he unstrapped her. She was obviously thrilled to see him, reaching out to be picked up and Bucky complied easily. “Hi Stevie.”

“Hey,” Steve said faintly. Despite the urgent situation, the sight of Bucky, here and alive, left him breathless. 

“Alright, I have a good idea where she’ll be,” Bucky announced, handing the baby to Steve. “You stay here with her—“

“No,” Steve interrupted, frowning. “I’m going with you.” His voice left no room for argument, but Bucky apparently didn’t care. 

“Hell no, you’ll be safer here and besides, who’s going to watch Kitty?”

Sam had a date, but Thor still offered to babysit every time he visited. The god was ecstatic to watch Kitty, even when Steve was vague about the details, and promised to be there within the hour. 

After getting off the phone, Steve sent Bucky a smug look, who scowled at him.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last chapter! I might do a sequel, I'm not sure yet

Babysitting was harder than Thor originally thought. 

Kitty was understandably upset by her fathers leaving the apartment without her, even though Steve covered her in kisses and Bucky handed her the Bucky Bear with a whispered promise to return. It still took Thor the better part of an hour to calm her with silly faces and the pudding he managed to sneak past Steve (who was a health nut when it came to his child, the Avengers were quick to learn and ignore).

Now she was sitting on her blanket in the middle of the living room, finally quiet but still looking entirely too depressed for Thor’s taste. He’d already tried cheering her up with toys and games, which were now laying in an ignored pile next to her, the Bucky Bear clutched to her chest the only one deemed worthy of her attention. 

“Come now, little one,” he tried again, for the countless time. “Smile for me, it would make your fathers greatly happy.”

Her bottom lip wobbled stubbornly, and maybe mentioning her fathers was a bad move. 

“Would you like to watch television?” Thor asked quickly, in an attempt to distract her. “Or perhaps read a book?”

The normally chatty baby sighed in response and sent a wistful glance towards the door. Thor had a moment of panic, thinking she was going to make a run for it, which quickly abated when he remembered he was a thousands years old prince of Asgard worthy of wielding Mjolnir and Kitty was six months old and could barely crawl. 

He decided reading a book would be the best course of action, Kitty’s approval or not, and picked her up gently, thankful that this time she didn’t make as big of a fuss as she did when he took her from Bucky. Her room was rather adorable, Thor thought as he walked in, decorated with light pastels and dainty flowers he had helped Steve paint on the walls one afternoon.The bookcase was full of colorful books that he knew she liked, but Kitty refused to pick so Thor chose one himself.

A bright orange book, by a Dr Seuss, caught his eye. He remembered Darcy speaking highly about the man, and Steve would probably appreciate the educational value of a children’s book by a man with a doctorate.

“I’m not exactly sure what he’s a doctor of,” he admitted to Kitty after finishing _Green Eggs and Ham_. The baby shrugged, and Thor supposed she wouldn’t know either. He made a mental note to asked Jane or Darcy later. “Would you like another?”

They made their way through Steve’s entire Dr Seuss collection, and Thor still didn’t have a clue what he was a doctor of. But Kitty had perked up during _Horton Hears a Who_ so he counted it was a victory anyways. 

His victory was short lived, though, when it became clear around bedtime that Kitty was not happy at all about being put to bed by someone other than Steve. She kicked and struggled when Thor tried to put her pajamas on, and somehow managed to punch him in the nose during the dreaded diaper changing. Tears were threatening to spill when he finally placed the fussy baby in her crib.

“Hush, little one,” he pleaded, remembering to hand her the Bucky Bear. Kitty grabbed it eagerly, but it didn’t seem to improve her mood other than giving her something to look woefully at. Thor sighed in sympathy. “I know you miss your fathers, but they are protecting you, not abandoning.”

She whined pitifully in response.

“There is an old lullaby my mother used to sing to me and my brother, when we were young and plagued with nightmares,” Thor continued. Kitty looked up at him, unimpressed. “Would you like to hear it? I believe I remember the words.”

She huffed indifferently, and he took it as a yes.

“Byssan lulle barnet  
gryta henger i jarnet  
koka full av rømmegraut  
åt det vesle barnet.”

His mother definitely had a better singing voice than he did, but Kitty was blinking sleepily, so he continued anyways.

“Byssan barnet i treets topp.  
Vinden gynger deg ned og opp.  
Men blåser vinden så grenen knekkes,  
så faller vuggen, og ungen vekkes,  
barnet i treets topp.”

Kitty was finally snoring softly, and Thor sent a silent thanks to his mother. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Steve frowned at the woman in front of him, now unconscious and tied to a pole. Bucky had wanted to kill her, and even though Steve was tempted to let him, he figured she was their best bet a figuring out if anybody else wanted to get their hands on Kitty.

“How long before your people show up?” Bucky asked, twirling a knife in his metal hand. Steve found the movement mesmerizing. Then again, he found most things about Bucky mesmerizing.

“Not long,” he replied. “Natasha wasn’t too happy about getting a phone call at three in the morning, but she said she’d take care of clean up.”

Bucky hummed softly. “Do we need to stay?”

“Probably not,” Steve said. They had done extensive surveillance on the abandoned warehouse she was holed up in, and there didn’t seem to be anyone who would coming looking for her. “Have somewhere you need to be?” he asked tentatively, hoping the answer was no.

Steve wasn’t exactly sure where they stood. Was Bucky going to stay with him and Kitty now? Or did he need more time to adjust, or whatever? He really didn’t want to be selfish, but he really, really wanted Bucky to stay with him and Kitty. Speaking of Kitty, Bucky whispered something to her before they left, and maybe it was just his mind telling him what he wanted to hear, but he could’ve sworn it was about coming back. 

“I—I was hoping to see Kitty again,” Bucky mumbled, shifting uncomfortably, like he was afraid Steve was going to do something ridiculous like say no.

“Yeah, of course,” Steve nodded happily, relieved that Bucky wanted to stay, even if just for a little bit. “You don’t need to ask permission, you know,” he felt compelled to add. “She’s yours too.”

“But…” Bucky let the protest trail off, looking helplessly at the bruised and bloody woman in front of them. “I hurt people.”

“For good reasons,” Steve argued, already seeing where this argument was headed and refusing to let Bucky fall further into that guilt. “She’s a mercenary hired to kidnap our child, Buck, I’m just as guilty of hurting her as you are. Hell, I’d do it again in a heart beat if she laid a finger on Kitty.”

“I’ve killed more than just her,” Bucky shot back. “For no reason other than someone told me to.”

“Wasn’t your choice,” he replied easily. “Wasn’t your fault. I don’t blame you, I blame Hydra.”

“I still did it,” Bucky said hollowly. His eyes clouded with a vacancy that made Steve’s heart ache. 

“Don’t care,” Steve responded stubbornly. If this Bucky was anything like the Bucky he knew, the best way to get through to him was acting like a stubborn asshole until he got the point. 

“You should care.”

“I don’t.”

“Steve,” Bucky groaned. Steve smirked. He was already cracking, this was going to be easier than he thought. “Don’t be stupid, I’m not someone who should be around babies.”

“You did fine with Kitty before,” he pointed out. Bucky, Steve was glad to see, didn’t have a good response to that. “Besides, if anyone shouldn’t be around babies, it’s me. Remember when I babysat Mrs.Turner’s kids?”

Bucky barked out a surprised laugh. “They tied you to a chair, didn’t they?”

“Uh huh,” Steve chuckled. “I got outsmarted by a couple of kindergarteners, you didn’t let me hear the end of it for months.”

“Neither did Mrs.Turner,” Bucky added, small grin on his face. Steve was positively beaming. 

“So, what do ya say?” he asked. “Wanna come home with me?”

Bucky took a deep breath. “Sure. Home sounds nice.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Steve opened the door quietly, trying not to wake Kitty, or Thor for that matter, if he was sleeping. Did Asgardians sleep? He had no idea, but it was four in the morning and all the lights were off in the apartment.

Bucky stood behind him, disarming himself. Steve had noticed Bucking using weapons with scary expertise during their fight with the mercenary, but he hadn’t realized how many Bucky had on him. There was a sizable pile growing on the side table where he normally put his keys. Bucky sent him a panicked look when he realized he was staring at the absurd amount of guns and knives.

“You should see how many Natasha usually has,” Steve whispered quickly, smiling reassuringly. In their lives, weapons were expected and necessary, if not for protection then ease of mind. Steve understood that; his shield was rarely more than five feet away. As long as Kitty couldn’t get her hands on them, weapons were begrudgingly allowed (that was the rule for when the Avengers came over, after several loud arguments with Natasha and reassurances from Clint).

Bucky grinned weakly, removing a final knife from his boot. “Where’s Thor?”

“Looks like he’s passed out on the couch,” Steve said, smothering a laugh. Asgardians did sleep, it turned out. And drooled. He tried to resist the urge to take a picture, honestly, but ended up taking one anyway to send to Jane.

They left Thor sleeping on the couch and headed straight for Kitty’s room. Bucky pushed the door open silently, Steve right behind him. They were greeted with an excited squeal that put a smile on both of their faces. 

“What are you doing up?” Steve teased, grinning at the baby sitting up in her crib. “You were supposed to be asleep hours ago, silly goose.”

She cooed sleepily, reaching a hand out between the bars of her crib in an attempt to grab Bucky’s hand. He crouched down so he was at her eye level and poked a couple fingers (not the metal ones) in so she could grab them. 

“Hi, sweetheart,” Bucky murmured gently, more gently than Steve had seen him do anything, before or after the war. Kitty babbled something back and tried to put his fingers in her mouth. “No, Kitty, those are dirty, not good. I don’t even remember the last time I washed those.”

She pouted when he pulled his hand back, looking up at Steve expectantly like he might be able to make Bucky give her his fingers back. 

“Sorry, princess,” he laughed instead, and Bucky smiled softly at Kitty’s indignant shriek. “We could probably use a shower.”

“That warehouse was pretty nasty,” Bucky agreed reluctantly, standing up.

Kitty let out a startled cry when they made to leave the room, eyes filling with tears when she realized they were leaving again. Bucky stopped and shot a panicked look at Steve. 

“We’re supposed to let her soothe herself,” Steve said slowly, although he wasn’t so convinced himself. “I read it in a parenting book, she needs to learn how to comfort herself without us.”

Bucky frowned at that, biting his lip. Steve shrugged helplessly (he wasn’t going to admit that he’d had trouble leaving Kitty by herself too). A final, pathetic whimper broke his resolve, and Bucky scooped Kitty out of the crib and looked defiantly at Steve. 

“We, uh, we can work on that later,” he chuckled. 

Bucky followed him with the baby back to his room, and Steve left them playing on his bed while he took what was possibly the fastest shower of his life. Bucky with Kitty was even more adorable than he imagined, and he couldn’t get enough of it. He was still a bit hesitant around her, Steve could tell (he’d yet to touch her with the metal arm, and if Steve was honest he was kinda jealous of the effortless way Bucky handled her with a single arm), but it was still Bucky and Kitty together, and the post-fight high was starting to make him giddy. 

Steve dressed quickly, pulling on his favorite sweatpants and the Brooklyn Dodgers baseball tee that he kept for nostalgia, and grabbed some clean clothes for Bucky. 

“Here,” he said softly. Kitty was passed out on Bucky’s chest, and he was smoothing her hair softly. “There’s shampoo and stuff in the shower, feel free to use whatever.”

“Thanks,” Bucky muttered, passing Kitty to Steve, miraculously avoiding waking her up and padding into the bathroom. The shower started a couple moments later.

Steve settled on the bed, keeping Kitty in his lap. If he had been a responsible parent, he probably would have put her back in her crib, but screw that. Kitty could sleep with them for one night, right?

He was on his phone, making sure it was safe for her to sleep in a big bed with two grown adults, when Bucky exited the bathroom. Steve was pretty sure he stopped breathing at the sight of him in his clothes, hair still wet and metal arm glinting in the soft light of the lamp. 

“You okay?” Bucky asked, like he didn’t realize he was being ridiculously gorgeous. That was different. Before, Bucky always knew when he was looking good (which to be fair was basically always) and liked to smirk teasingly when he caught him staring. Steve somehow found the blissful ignorance even more attractive, which he didn’t think was possible.

“Uh, yeah.” Steve quickly diverted his attention to the ceiling, then to Kitty when he remembered there was literally no logical reason to be staring at the ceiling. “You sleeping in here?”

“Yes please?”

Steve scooted over and made plenty of room for him. “According to the internet, we can keep Kitty in the bed with us as long as we’re super careful and aware of where she is.”

Bucky snorted, crawling into the bed slowly and leaving lots of room for Kitty. “Not much I’m not aware of these days.”

“Oh yeah?” Steve asked with a grin. “How many cats does the upstairs neighbor have?”

“Three,” Bucky smirked proudly. If Steve thought he hadn’t done an extensive investigation of his apartment building, he was crazy. 

Steve laughed softy and carefully placed the sleeping Kitty in between them. “We should get to sleep, it’s been a long day.”

“Oh.” Bucky looked surprised at something, and Steve raised an eyebrow.

“What is it?”

“Nothing,” he said quickly, but Steve frowned more.”I just thought you’d want to talk or something.”

“Do you want to talk?” Steve was just going to leave everything until morning. He was just happy Bucky had decided to stay the night, he wasn’t going to push his luck. 

“Not really, not right now.” Bucky did look tired.

“Okay then, we’ll go to sleep and talk in the morning, that alright?”

“Yeah.”

Silence filled the room for a few minutes, long enough for Steve to think Bucky had fallen asleep.

“Hey Stevie?”

“Yeah?”

“Thanks.”

“Anything for you, Buck.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Oh thank Odin!” 

The loud yell startled both Steve and Bucky from sleep and sent Steve reaching for his shield and Bucky pulling a gun from who-knew-where and pointing it at the disheveled Norse god in front of them. 

“Thor?” Steve asked groggily, and Kitty chose that moment to start crying. Bucky set down the gun before picking her up.

“I’m so sorry,” Thor said, looking as shaken as they did. “I woke up and the child was not in her crib. I may have panicked slightly.”

“No shit,” Bucky grumbled bouncing Kitty gently. The poor baby really didn’t like loud noises. 

“It’s fine Thor,” Steve sighed. “We got back late last night and brought Kitty in here with us. We probably should have woken you up or something.”

“All is good,” Thor reassured them. “The little one is safe and I assume the threat is taken care of?”

“Yeah,” Bucky said grimly. “She’s gone.”

“Good.” Thor nodded wisely. “Are you going to stay with the good captain and Kitty?”

“Um,” Bucky blinked, looked surprised. He probably hadn’t been expecting that question from Thor. “Yeah, I’d like to.”

Steve beamed, planting a kiss on Bucky’s cheek and Kitty’s forehead. “Pancakes for breakfast, anyone?”

Kitty let out a happy squeak at the promise of food, which made Bucky giggle and Steve’s heart leap with joy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I found the lullaby online, I think it's a Norwegian version of Hush-a-Bye Baby


End file.
